^^^

 

Although I agree somewhat,a lot of us started riding way back when.My license consisted of passing a written test,then riding around the block.If you made it back in one piece,you passed.There were no rider courses at that time that I knew of.Sure common sense plays a big part but I do remember at 16,one question on the test was,"make eye contact with a driver at an intersection to be sure he has seen you."
35 yrs later I took the Basic Rider course with my wife (for support) and the answer was no longer valid.In fact it's the exact opposite.
40 yrs of riding and I still don't consider myself an expert rider.Those guys are the guys riding around road courses at 150mph and they don't have to worry about inattentive drivers.

 

To that end, I will even go far enough that if I *do* make eye contact because someone starts zoning out, I'll shift the bike from one side of the lane to the other to try to make myself visible.

I'd say 3 of 5 times, as I start to move I can watch wheels start to turn and then abruptly stop as I am crossing the lane.

And while I know it's bad logic, out here in DC land, I avoid accidents by going faster than the other dumbasses. When I started riding out here, I tried to stay with the traffic only to watch people start to weave over and other crap because of inattentiveness from a cell phone, cheeseburger, makeup, book, newspaper, or fingerbanging the ol' lady. Now I just going about 80, get around people, and don't hover around them. When I'm stuck in a pack of cars for much over about 30 seconds, I start looking for a way out because I know I'm starting to disappear from their sight and mind.

 

Agreed.Never become a blind spot.I tell my wife and son to ride with the High Beam on during the day and wiggle the bars when approaching an intersection with a 2 way stop.
Even just a week after my son took the course i let him lead and on a four lane. he rode the curb lane and sat on the right rear fender of the car beside him.I pulled up and backed him off and not 10 sec later the car moved abruptly to the curb lane.No signal,no look.
If I'm behind a car and I can see the drivers face in the side view mirrors on their car,I know they can't see beside them with those mirrors.I stay back or haul a$$ past them.
<edit> Side view mirrors are just that if set up correctly.They are not for looking down the side of your car to the rear.

 

Sometimes the throttle is your best friend!

 

You're not missing anything, you're 100 percent right. But there are probably some folks here that don't know it all and still ride, and others for whom a little reminder won't hurt. Anyway, it's winter and the riding is more scarce now so why not.

My lesson - pay attention at all times. Obvious lesson for all of the real riders out there, I know but heck, I still had to learn it the hard way. Going along at speed on a 4 lane, something caught my eye and I looked away. When I turned my attention back to the road, the car in front of me had stopped for no reason at all. I hit the brakes, hit the rear one too hard (another lesson) and locked up the rear wheel. Low sided in (didn't relase the rear brake, one thing I did right). No real damage, was not going fast when I went down. Lots of lessons, all things I should have known, but I definately know them now.

Bill

 

A friend of mine almost bought the big dirt nap when a cager cut a corner at a intersection to beat a yellow light and ran over his front forks.
(He was behind the pedestrian crosswalk markers)
He still limps from that encounter 10 years ago-still riding though.

 

Almost the same thing but I didn't smell it I saw it - on a blind hill/corner I saw wet on a dry sunny day, slowed way down and found a skinny dry path to put my tires on. When I rode past, I smelled gasoline real heavy, would have taken me down for sure had I done any different.

 

Man SG, you can be ornery, huh ? Why don't you give some advice of your own, it seems it's always "everyone should know all this" with you.
Don't forget some poeple know less than everything.

 

pulled up to a stop sign at kind of a weird intersection. the 2 lane road i was on 'T'ed. i was going right. there was an small island separating the right turn lane from those going to make a left. this was out in the middle of iowa corn country. both had a stop sign. pickup truck in front of me went straight and stopped but had his right turn signal on. i stopped at my stop sign and waiting for the pickup to do something. got impatient and started to go. the truck made a right turn and i didn't want him that close to me so i hit the brakes and stopped, put both feet down. next thing i know i am flying off the bike as it went speeding forward. right before i landed on my back with my helmeted head hitting the concrete hard, i realized i had gotten hit from behind. that driver saw me start out and then looked left and tried to beat out that pickup truck.

rewind:
don't get impatient. try better to anticipate what others are going to do. if you don't know for sure then wait. at least do something that will not be affected by their action. also check behind you both before stopping and again before starting off to know what is behind you.

some of you might remember that the person who hit me was my brother driving my car. we were on the way to sturgis. wife and daughter in the car too. later the next evening my wife toasted my brother and said "thank god it was you that hit him and not me!"